4 day old mallard duckling scratching his head

[mosse71]

just noticed one of my ducklings is scratching both sides of his head with both feet. i fed them purina medicated chick starter. could itbe hes having a reaction to the medication? never seen this before.

 

[HuskerHens18]

Does he have deep water so he can wash his eyes and clear his sinuses? That's my first thought.

 

[mosse71]

yes he does. scratching at the under side and middle of head on both sizes. almost like he has fleas but fleas he'd be scratching all over. i checked him out and he's clean.

 

[mosse71]

been scratching like this for over a hr. since i noticed.

 

[HuskerHens18]

Hmm that's weird.. do his eyes look crusty? I'm really not sure why he would scratch his head like that

 

[mosse71]

no . he looks fine other than the scratching which hes still doing this morning. i looked him over closely under a bright light for parasites and i don't see any. skin isn't red or inflamed either. i rubbed some warm neem oil around his head where he is scratching to see if that helps but he still is scratching fevourously. may be something internal. guess just have to wait and see.

 

[PirateGirl]

Try letting him swim a bit so he can preen for awhile after. Growing feathers is itchy! Hopefully it's nothing more than this. Also what bedding are you using? Could the bedding be irritating?

 

[mosse71]

coarse pine shavings from TSC. supposed to be warm today. ill bring them out for a swim this afternoon.

 

[PirateGirl]

Mine seemed to do a little better when I switched to straw because it was less dusty, but my shavings were really fine. Hopefully the pool time helps.

 

[mosse71]

gave them some swim time in the pool. still scratching. i don't know. was even scratching in the pool. rubbed in some more neem to at least keep the areas he's scratching lubricated. hopefully it fixes itself.